Claire Sugden
East Londonderry · Independent · Northern Ireland
“That is, gosh, almost 35 years ago, yet we are still having the conversation in 2026. If I were to speak to that eight-year-old girl, I would tell her, "When you are 40, Claire, this will not even be a consideration for you". Sadly, however, it still is. It is deeply disappointing that, when we had an opportunity, it was not taken.”
“Indeed, I tabled an amendment to that Bill to achieve the desired outcome, but, sadly, the opportunity was not taken. One of the strengths of the Assembly is that Committees can identify where Executive legislation has fallen short and produce their own practical, targeted solutions.”
“Frankly, we should be listening. Sometimes, we talk about equality in broad terms, but the Bill reminds us that equality is often about practical things. It is about removing unnecessary barriers from everyday life and ensuring that opportunities and choices do not depend on arbitrary differences between schools.”
“That is ridiculous. The point that we should all pay attention to is that of girls feeling less exposed. We should focus on that even if there were no other reasons to pass the legislation. Girls simply want to get on with their school day without having to think about something that most boys take for granted.”
“That meeting was a reminder that issues that can appear small to adults — there have been adults who have asked why the Assembly is legislating on this — can be issues on which we need to legislate. When people do not behave appropriately, we as a legislature have a responsibility to legislate.”
“Around one in seven couples in Northern Ireland experiences fertility problems, yet Northern Ireland continues to offer one of the most limited publicly funded fertility services anywhere in the United Kingdom. Couples face lengthy waits, restricted eligibility criteria and fewer publicly funded IVF opportunities than elsewhere.”
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“Yes, the Minister has shown his commitment to Causeway being an acute hospital with an A&E supporting clinical services. That is fantastic, but the devil is always in the detail. I would like the Minister to give more information about the way in which it will move forward as an acute hospital. Will it have a 24-hour A&E service, and what clinical services will it provide? To be fair to the Minister; up until now, the problem with the uncertainty about Causeway has been the investment it has had. Until recently, there have not been any clinical appointments or capital investment. There has been no development. Is that part of the Minister's future plans to ensure that Causeway will remain part of all this? <BR /> <BR />To come back to the Donaldson report; it is not a terrible report. I take issue with parts of it.”
“Like other Members who have contributed so far, I thank my constituency colleague Mr Dallat for tabling the Adjournment debate. Whether it is unfounded or not, there remains significant concern about the future of Causeway Hospital in its entirety or in the services it provides. I also welcome the positive contributions by Members in the House thus far, particularly by the Minister's party colleagues, because they are in a really unique position to encourage and ensure the future of the Causeway Hospital. I hope that they will continue to support it in the way in which they have shown today. <BR /> <BR />I suppose that I want to follow on from Mr Allister's point about the Donaldson report, because it is one of the points that makes me understand the uncertainty around Causeway.”
“Are the cuts to each rural community transport partnership equally and strategically justified across Northern Ireland?”
“I will see whether I can talk fast to counteract the Minister's ad-libbing. The revaluation is a bit of a shambles, and I have requested a meeting with the Minister to discuss it. I concur with Mr Rogers: there are certainly very few winners in my constituency. I do not expect the Minister to have specific figures to hand, but does he have any idea for how many business properties the net annual value has risen and made them ineligible for the various thresholds of the rate relief schemes?”
“I thank both Ministers for their very ambitious statement. However, moving forward, I would like to see some more specific SMART objectives, particularly in relation to the projects, so that the statement is more about substance than fancy words. <BR /> <BR />I suppose that Mr McCann alluded to it earlier, but it would be irresponsible of both Departments to announce such an endeavour unless some money is available. Will the Minister give me some examples of what funding is already under his power?”
“Unsurprisingly, the Minister is unwilling to acknowledge the farcical process of the European social fund. That is part of a bigger picture of mismanagement by the Northern Ireland Executive when it comes to implementing funds like early years, the European social fund and neighbourhood renewal. As the Minister has overarching responsibility for DEL, can he tell me how he is supporting the community and voluntary sector instead of standing by the officials who have made mistakes?”
“I thank the Minister for his response. I do not accept that we are comparable with England and Wales. We have specific social circumstances, so I reject that rationale. How has the Minister consulted the public on how this might affect them if the reforms are put in place?”
“I scored a hat-trick here, Principal Deputy Speaker.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer, but I was actually referring to the inefficiency of having to get a new Access NI form for every organisation that you are involved with. That is ridiculous, and it places a heavy burden on the community and voluntary sector in particular. In light of that, how has the Minister consulted the community and voluntary sector?”
“I recently visited Magilligan. The report's recommendations are not unfounded, and they need to happen as soon as possible. Does the Minister have a timeline for when the refurbishment of Magilligan will take place?”
“In conjunction with the Finance Minister, the Environment Minister announced in June last year that a geographical voluntary exit scheme would be run to generate vacancies for those who lost their jobs in the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) Coleraine. Can the Minister give me an indication of how many jobs from the scheme will go to Coleraine?”
“<BR /> <BR />My last point is that I will stand here and say that I am a feminist. Feminism is not about criticising men or about getting one over on men; it is about equality. It is brave, but, my goodness, is it necessary. So, in the last few seconds — maybe I do have a minute — I will ask how many Members — in particular, men — will use the opportunity of an intervention in my contribution to stand up and say that they are a feminist? Not one. OK.”
“<BR /> <BR />Women need to support women. I do not like to say that we are the fairer sex because we are much better than that; we are the fantastic sex. We are fantastic in that we hold ourselves to such high standards. I heard recently from a woman that females should be concerned only with business and not necessarily how they look. I say do both if that is what you want to do. A leader is not necessarily a woman in a suit; it is a woman not afraid to wear a dress and own it. <BR /> <BR />Men also need to support women. I was asked this morning about how my male colleagues treat me in the House, and I must admit that I have not really witnessed much of that nonsense, but, let us face it, that hostility is their insecurity, not mine, so I do not really pay much attention to it anyway.”
“I will come to that in my next point. One of the areas that the report focused on was the responsibility of the political parties to encourage women in politics. The Northern Ireland Assembly is a party house, and enhancing the participation of women in politics cannot happen without genuine leadership from the political parties — leadership that goes beyond mechanisms to ensure more women are selected for candidacy and the entire approach of politics. Today, we are aware of yet another merry dance of old, stale politics between the two main parties. How many women — how many women and men — will become involved in politics because of that? This House needs to get its act together to stop the rot of people turning off from politics so that we can encourage more young people and women into politics.”
“Women in politics are entirely necessary, not as a token, not as an antidote to men, not as colour in a sea of grey suits, but in our own right as capable representatives of half the population in Northern Ireland and across the world. I commend the instigators of the review because of the gross disproportion of women in this House. I am, however, somewhat disappointed with the recommendations. Generally, I support the messages, but I do not feel that they go far enough. I do not feel that there are specific targets, a time frame or rigour to ensure that it happens. It worries me that this will be just another tokenistic report. <BR /> <BR />I will, however, focus on one area of the report. It is the —”
“I was giving off on Twitter, saying that I was going to be timed out and said "oh the irony" of that, but anyway. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the review of women in politics, and, like many others, I note the importance of the debate on the day after International Women's Day. To pay my respects to the women in East Londonderry, Northern Ireland and across the world, I will quote a post from the timeline of another fantastic woman and Northern Ireland Assembly colleague Judith Cochrane. She said:”
“I think that this whole process is actually quite empty. The fact that you are referring us back to a steering group that obviously knows as much as you do about this is quite disappointing. Was any money actually in place when this process was first announced, and is there any money in place to fulfil the many applications?”
“I welcome the reduction in the number of Departments, but it acknowledges the Departments' failure to work together for efficiency and the betterment of Northern Ireland. How will the First Minister encourage his Executive to start working together right now so that we can hit the ground running when the changes are made?”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I agree with the Member's comment. We should not be trying to pit the two against each other, but, to be quite honest, the motion tries to create a white elephant. You explicitly mentioned the Lockwood report. If this is about bringing employment to the north-west, why mention that? I respect the context, but, at the same time, there is a context in Coleraine, and that is what we should be mindful of. <BR /> <BR />I really do not know whether I will support the motion. The premise is that we need to expand Magee, but we also need to look to our other universities and see what is the best way to facilitate the young people of the future. I will go back to my earlier point, and it is one that was made at the start of the debate: this is about them; it is not about the politics that we keep finding ourselves in.”
“By all means, yes, Derry is the second city, and we need to look at the opportunities there, but we also need to look at what is happening outside Derry and Belfast. <BR /> <BR />Mark Durkan suggested earlier that Derry has not been fully embraced as a university city. I could say the same for Coleraine: it is a town with a university; not a university town. Both are really good campuses, and both are part of the same university, might I add, in a very small country in the world. Let us work together on this; it is not a case of one against —”
“The whole Magee debate is hindering Coleraine. I have been lobbying the Minister and chatting with a number of stakeholders in Coleraine about the opportunity to bring a veterinary school to the area. However, that will not happen because there will be an awful outcry from someone else, "What about Magee?" I know that we need a veterinary school at Coleraine, and I know that the local veterinary practitioners say that we need it. Therefore, I think we need to be mindful of this in the wider context.”
“<BR /> <BR />I had a conversation in the car with my work experience student, Alexander, who is sitting in the Public Gallery, and he loves politics and has a real interest in moving forward with politics as part of his career, but not in Northern Ireland — not at all. He says that we still deal with the same unionist/nationalist issues here. What message are we giving out? I acknowledge that mistakes were made about Derry. By all means, I acknowledge that, but those decisions were made before me. I can work only in the environment that I am now presented with. Right now, we need jobs and realistic opportunities for young people. <BR /> <BR />It would be remiss of me not to speak about Coleraine, not as a unionist but as a constituency representative of East Londonderry.”
“Pat Ramsey rightly began his speech by stating that this is about young people. The decision that will be taken here today will be about the future of young people; that is what we are here for. By all means, expand Magee, but only if it realistically offers opportunities for young people. Otherwise, the argument to expand Magee undermines itself. If we are talking about expanding Magee for the sake of numbers, where is the substance in that? All I see in the motion are numbers. There is no mention of pragmatic courses that will bring jobs and employment to the north-west. To me, it very much suggests that the motion is for the sake of politics, not for the sake of young people, as we are quite at liberty to point out. As a young person and a part-time student of Ulster University, I find that quite sad.”
“Was the Northern Ireland investment fund created to provide a space for upgrading the electricity grid, which would in turn satisfy the policy on renewables?”
“I did not intend to quote the Minister's response, but here goes. Does she agree that, along with corporation tax, Project Kelvin and the imminent enterprise zone will create a global unique selling point for Northern Ireland, which happens to be in my constituency in Coleraine?”
“Is the Minister aware of any community or voluntary groups that have expressed an interest in working alongside the Department on the site?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. Does she have any plans to appoint an independent veterinary expert to provide strategic oversight of the health of the pig herd to ensure effective growth?”
“The Minister alluded to my question when he discussed the extended role of community pharmacists. Great savings can be made through medicines management and more efficient prescribing. How does the Minister see that moving forward, and how do we make savings on drugs in Northern Ireland?”
“One of the biggest access issues for rural constituents is community transport. The Blind Centre in my constituency recently lost its transport. How is the Minister working with Minister Kennedy to ensure consistent and adequate rural transport for those specifically with a disability?”
“Let us start to have them say that they are proud to have us as representatives on this hill. Let us have meaningful working together. The Bill starts with children and young people — as it should — but I hope that this is an example to Departments across the Executive. I hope that it is an example of our starting to work together. I wholeheartedly support the Bill.”
“I say quite wholeheartedly, therefore, that Mr Agnew's private Member's Bill is probably the most important Bill to reach the Floor because it legislates to ensure that our Government do their job right. It sounds ridiculous, but, up until now, we have not been doing that; because of times past, because of our politicians and because of our civil servants, we are not doing the job that we should be doing for the people whom we represent. We are where we are with that. Let us acknowledge it, fix it and move on. Let us take Departments out of their bubble. <BR /> <BR />Now is the time for change, and it can be only a good thing. Northern Ireland is so apathetic towards this Building and its politicians. So let us start to move forward and to create something positive for the people of Northern Ireland.”
“This private Member's Bill is essentially about two things: better government and better outcomes for our children and young people. Those two things alone mean that I can stand here and wholeheartedly support Mr Agnew's Bill. Let us face it: we are failing our children and young people. In fact, we are failing Northern Ireland. Why is that? It is because our Departments exist in a silo mentality, which is ironic given that we are in a power-sharing, consociational arrangement. I do not think that it is controversial to say that. Indeed, I think that many Members will acknowledge the lack of collaboration and, therefore, severe inefficiencies in how we provide public services for the people whom we represent.”
“The Minister seems somewhat satisfied by the number of people who have applied for voluntary redundancy. Does that suggest that there is not a need for involuntary redundancies in this respect?”
“I thank the Minister for her response. Can she outline what consultation she has had with the R&A to ensure that the golfing world and others are satisfied with what the north coast has to offer?”
“I generally welcome the Minister's statement, because I think that tourism is Northern Ireland's unique selling point, and, up until now, I believe that it has been underutilised. It is widely acknowledged — Mr Allister mentioned it — that the difficulties with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board are due to how it has provided, subsequent to the Good Friday Agreement. Is a new name enough to overcome those difficulties?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. She spoke briefly earlier about departmental assistance to help farmers with their income. Does the Minister acknowledge the current absence of a specific mechanism designed to mitigate price volatility?”
“I welcome the Minister's response, because I too believe that the community and voluntary sector has a place within the public services. What does the Minister feel that its role in mental health will be in the future?”
“Other than the Irish-medium sector, what plans does the Minister have to bring forward governance and funding policy proposals for sectors not under the remit of the new Education Authority?”
“Will the Minister reiterate the long-term benefits for the local economy that the Ballykelly proposal will have for the north-west and Northern Ireland?”
“I understand that the Minister is working with other Executive Departments to promote a strong tourism strategy on the north coast. How will the route play a part in that?”
“I share the disappointment of many Members. I am mindful that we are to welcome the British Open in coming years. Will the infrastructure, including an appropriate Coleraine to Londonderry line, be in place, or will we be constantly facing further delays and significant costs to the public purse in the next few years?”
“I think the decision is regrettable, to say the least, and it has created a significant shortfall in care for people suffering from multiple sclerosis. I am concerned about the shock of staff and patients at how this information was received. Will the Minister detail his understanding of when and how this information was given to the relevant people?”
“Would the Minister consider working with local businesses and community and voluntary groups such as the Shackleton Aviation and Space Museum on the Ballykelly site to maximise use and encourage local people and the local economy?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. I note that Belfast is now the number one global destination for financial technology investment. In his draft Budget, how is the Minister mindful of encouraging technology investment on the other side of our country, particularly when we have a huge transatlantic cable coming ashore in my constituency?”
“We have the potential to do so much more, and I look forward to a time when we are able to do that.”
“That was particularly apparent when I requested a meeting with our Minister of Education and he refused, saying that it was not necessary, and directed me to my education and library board. Minister, I went to someone at my education and library board, and he directed me back to you. These people do not have anyone to lobby for them, and, in my position as an elected representative for East Londonderry, I have tried to do that. <BR /> <BR />All of our children deserve to have the best education, but they can have that only if they have someone to voice their concerns. I believe that they should be included in such a board. Maybe we should move forward with that. <BR /> <BR />As I reiterated, the Bill will go through as a matter of process, and that is fine, but it represents a shortfall in our government.”
“I will take this opportunity, because I can, to remind all political parties moving into the new talks to be mindful of the position that the people of Northern Ireland put you in. Be mindful of how far we have come, because that is important, and take responsibility for the power that you hold. I am 28 years old. I live for Northern Ireland. I live for politics in Northern Ireland. I would love to bring my generation with me. I want my generation to feel the same way about this country and Administration as I do. You know, it is OK to drive a Ford, but I would rather drive a Porsche, and I think that that is what we should aim for. <BR /> <BR />I will support the Bill, so that box is ticked. However, I note, as others noted, the lack of representation from groups other than the controlled sector.”
“You seem to be quite well versed in the role, but I do have an issue when two parties make deals behind closed doors, forgetting the mandate of other elected representatives in the House. Had that deal been made with the consensus of everyone, you might be sitting here as Speaker — well, that is unlikely.”
“<BR /> <BR />I move now to the Bill. I will not stand here and reiterate what other Members have said in support of the Bill, because I struggle to add anything else. As was said, it is short, simple and uninspiring — a Ford, if you like — and a matter of process to tidy up an RPA legal framework. In other words, it is a limited Bill. It further demonstrates the inability of our Executive to legislate effectively without throwing their toys out of the pram or making deals behind closed doors. <BR /> <BR />Yesterday, I abstained from voting for our new Speaker. I was frustrated, and I was not going to vote for a deal that I did not make. Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, I have no issue with you sitting in the Chair.”
“<BR /> <BR />The passing of my predecessor, my boss and, most of all, my dear friend David McClarty was heartbreaking. In life and death, David was and remains an important influence in my life. He was my mentor, he was my guide, and he is the politician whom I would be honoured to become. I am privileged to sit here after him. The reaction to his passing was comforting, because Coleraine — in fact, Northern Ireland — loved him as much as I did. As an independent politician, David did not move political mountains, but he achieved much more, because he connected with the people whom he represented and helped them. As politicians — as elected representatives — that is one thing that we should all strive to do. All politics is local, and political parties in the House would do well to remember that for the benefit of Northern Ireland.”